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St. John Cemetery In Queens

My mother is into genealogy and when she mentioned that a number of our relatives were buried in a cemetery not exceedingly far from The Velvet Rocket’s New York office, I Googled the cemetery to learn more about it.

The name of the cemetery is St. John and despite being owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, it is located in Middle Village in the New York City borough of Queens.

Now, something immediately jumps out at anyone that gives even the most cursory of glances over the Wikipedia entry on St. John Cemetery…

Holy shit! There are a lot of household names from the organized crime world buried there.

I mentioned this discovery to our cultural correspondent, Mr. Downing, and it was almost immediately decided that a visit to St. John Cemetery was compulsory.

It can be awkward to get anywhere in Queens as the train coverage is not good and so one must frequently incorporate the train and bus into any travel plans. However, in this case we both agreed afterward that the experience was more than worth the hassle of the journey.

This is the main entrance to St. John Cemetery at Metropolitan Avenue and 80th Street:

And once inside, it does not take long to realize how absolutely massive the cemetery is:

As such, I immediately gave up any hope of finding my relatives (although I did, nevertheless, keep my eyes open for their names) and decided to focus on some of the other interesting characters in the cemetery. We did not know the exact location of anyone, but old pictures and rumors gave us enough to at least know which area to look in…

In the center of the larger section of St. John Cemetery (Metropolitan Avenue divides the sprawling cemetery) one will certainly not fail to notice a massive structure that looks like a prison or a fortress. It is, in fact, a mausoleum and one should head for it.

Arrayed around the mausoleum, one will find a number of organized crime figures of no small significance.

One of the first that a visitor will come across is the grave of Joseph Profaci in Section 11:

And just a hop, skip and jump behind Joe Profaci’s grave is the grave of Vito Genovese. This one is not easy to find and I actually walked right by it before Mr. Downing spotted it.

Yes, believe it or not, Don Vito’s grave is hidden behind that jungle in the middle of this picture:

Here is a view of the grave of Vito Genovese when viewed straight on… We were surprised that his grave was not better cared for and maintained:

I scrambled through the overgrown hedge to get to the base of the tombstone and to take this picture… You can make out the name “Genovese” at the bottom.

Given Don Vito’s personal history, you’ve got to love the angel, no?

Circling around to the other side of the prison mausoleum, one will find the grave of Lucky Luciano contained within this vault in Section 3:

“Lucky” Luciano’s real name was Salvatore Lucania which you see reflected on the vault above.

On to the mausoleum… The section you will be interested in is St. John Cloister (marked as “O” on the cemetery maps). This place is huge and it is easy to become disoriented within its labyrinth of condo-style vaults:

One may feel a sense of relief upon noticing an electronic database of grave locations next to the entrances of the mausoleum, but this is a false source of comfort. St. John has not included any of its celebrity residents in their database. So, you’re on your own in this search… But, isn’t that part of the fun?

Upstairs on the 3rd floor in Aisle C (the wooden section), one will find the surprisingly modest grave of John Gotti:

The other resident with John Gotti is his son who was run over and killed by a neighbor. The neighbor disappeared several months later and his body has never been found.

Here is a view of the aisle where John Gotti can be found… He is on the bottom left:

If you are interested, there are several open slots available right next to John Gotti and they sell for only $750 to $1,500 depending on the height you select. Seems like a bargain to me…

By the way, if you’re a fan of John Gotti (or just interested) and made it out to St. John Cemetery, the former Bergin Hunt and Fish Club on 101st Avenue at 99th street in Ozone Park, Queens is close by. As you might have guessed, the club had nothing to do with fishing… This is where Gotti ran his crew in the 1970s, controlling a crime empire that raked in about $1 billion a year from prostitution, drugs, pornography, gambling, racketeering, loan sharking and stolen cars.

And if you’re returning home through Queens from St. John Cemetery and the former Bergin Hunt and Fish Club, John Gotti’s home was located at 160-11, 85th Street in Howard Beach, Queens.

There are, of course, other reasons to visit St. John Cemetery as one may have relatives buried here (as I do) and it is interesting to observe the impact of historical events such as 9/11 which filled a number of graves in St. John:

However, one simply cannot overlook the staggering number of organized crime heavyweights buried at St John… The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn may try to conceal or ignore its more infamous residents, but it seems almost, well, criminal to not enjoy having so many of them clustered together.

These men are, like it or not, a significant part of American history. And judging from the number of hugely successful mafia and gangster books, films, television shows, etc. this is an element of American history that a number of people remain fascinated by.

I’ll let the sign at the exit of St. John Cemetery have the last word:

28 thoughts on “St. John Cemetery In Queens”

In the Gambino vault, I was trying my best to make out the name above. The last name clearly says “Sinatra” but do you by chance know the first name? As luck has it this wikipedia blackout is today!
Respectfully,
Paul

i agree always do your research before you comment or claim to know of someone or something!!!! again phyllis c.sinatra aka felicia gambino was don carlo gambino’s only daughter who married the prominent m.d. thomas.joseph.sinatra. and they both had three children nina,frank,and carla.

yes thats right the name you see above carlo gambino is his daughter phyllis c.sinatra.and above phyllis is her husband thomas.joseph.sinatra m.d. he was a prominent urologist in the greater new.york. area i hoped that this valuable information helped you out pdswart!!!!!!!

I like your style, B. I’m afraid that the niches directly surrounding Gotti were occupied, but there were niches just a few spaces away that were still available when we visited. Not quite as good, but still pretty cool…

My grandmother is in a crypt in that mausoleum. She died in October 1976. We were rather abruptly rushed out of the brief service in the mausoleum because the Gambinos had arrived for the interrment of Carlo Gambino who died on the same day or within a day of my grandmother. The way they pushed us out was indecent. It wasn’t anyone from the Gambino family. IIRC, it was actually some official from the cemetery with a federal agent that booted us.

A clarification about ownership of the Brooklyn diocese of a cemetery located in Queens. The dioceses headquarters, the seat of the local bishop, is physically in Brooklyn, but the diocese comprises all of Brooklyn and Queens. The name of the diocese doesn’t limit its territory. For example, the Diocese of Rockville Center includes millions of Catholics covering all of the Roman Catholic parishes of Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Ha, yes, they won’t give you anything at all… The names of the mafia figures buried at St. John’s Cemetery are not in any of the publicly searchable databases either. So, it takes some work to track these down (as such, there are a lot I never found).

Sorry, Bill, some of them are extremely tough to find even when you have a really good idea of the section they are in… The staff, while quite pleasant, are not exactly helpful in locating their more notorious residents either.

Im coming over from the UK in September and intend to spend at least a day tracking some of the names down in the cemetry to pay my respects. Always been incredibly fascinated with all things Mafia and grew up learning about the early days of Gambino, Lucchese and Genovese etc! Any tips on how best to find were these guys are buried?

The cemetery does not have the names of its interesting residents in their database and the staff will pretend not to know if you ask them. So, unfortunately, the best one can do is to use the pictures and descriptions I gave to try and track down the sites they are interested in. Unfortunately, there are many I did not find as well.

Robert Mapplethorpe, the famous photographer is also buried here in Section 48, Row B, grave 131-133. The stone says, “Maxey,” on the top. The woman in the office was very nice and helpful. Robert created a wonderful foundation on his death that has benefitted many needy people. I rode 22 miles on my bike from Manhattan to see this cemetery. It’s beautiful and worth the trip.